Christmas with a Kiss Under the Mistletoe
by percabeth777
Summary: One-shot and co-written. When Ms.Jackson throws a Christmas party, Percy is forced into a tux, many of his friends show up, all along with many more surprises. Can a small green plant sort things out between percy and Annabeth? Percabeth! Happy Holidays!


**Hi everyone! We hope you get back into the holiday spirit along with this one-shot written by me and XxxBeLLxXxGiRlxxX76, as co-authors! Hope you enjoy this sweet percabeth/holiday one-shot!**

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"Mom!" I groaned for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Honey, just a few more adjustments." My mom smiled as she straightened the coat of my tuxedo and ran her fingers through my hair.

Paul laughed. "It's not that bad, Percy." He was hanging green and red streamers up on the ceiling.

After a few more useless groans and noises of protest, my mom stepped away to look at me, her grin getting wider. "You look so handsome! You're really growing up."

If I didn't know any better, I'd say she would begin to tear up. I sighed. "Mom, will you please at least tell me who's coming?"

My mom flashed a smile. "You'll see…" And without another word, she turned and walked over to the Christmas tree, adjusting the decorations and straightening the mistletoe above the fireplace.

You see, it was Christmas Eves, and my mom had been planning this huge party right here in our apartment. I knew she was planning something big, considering she had forced me into a tuxedo, and had been on the phone the last couple of days making invitations. Now the part that was just a little worse than having to wear all this stupid formal stuff was the fact that my mom wouldn't tell me who was coming.

Accepting that I couldn't get a word out of my mom, I reluctantly helped out as we prepared for the guest to arrive.

_Ding-dong._

The first door bell rang as I sprang up and answered it.

"Hey Percy! Long time no see!" Grover ginned.

"G-man?" I said with obvious surprise. "How did you get here?"

Grover shrugged. "Argus is dropping us off one by one, from camp," he explained "Chiron used special mist manipulation so that monsters won't sense all of us here at once."

"So you knew about this and didn't tell me?" I accused.

"Hey, sorry dude." He held up his hands. "You're mom gave me specific instructions that this was going to be surprise for you."

As the clock slowly ticked by, more doorbells ran, more guests entered. Juniper had arrived and was standing by the punch bowl talking with Grover. Beckendorf was here with Silena, along with a lot of others. I was pretty surprised to see so many of my camp friends here, and I wondered how my mom had managed to get a hold of all of them this time during the year.

Another door bell rang, and I answered it.

And there standing in front of me was Thalia. With a group of maybe, 12 to 13 girls standing behind her.

"Thalia!" I grinned, and she returned it. I wasn't surprised, though; with all the surprises I had seen today, I was even ready for the gods to start showing up in my apartment.

"Sup, Seaweed Brain?" _Ugh_, now I have her calling me seaweed brain too. A guy can never catch a break, can he? I sighed in exasperation and quickly formed a comeback…

"I'm just fine, _Pinecone Face._How is the camping trip of a life time treating you?"

Thalia shrugged, ignoring my comment. "Eh, a monster here and there - nothing new."

Behind her, a few hunters cleared their throats.

"Oh!" Thalia exclaimed. "These are the Huntresses." Then she when into introducing everyone.

And pretty soon, after introductions, the huntresses had scattered around the room.

By this time, most of the guests were here. Loud chitchat filled the room, and the front door was left open for guest to walk in.

As I stood next to Paul, serving myself a glass of punch, I heard familiar footsteps down the hall, and my head rose in time to see someone appear in the door way, and stop at sight of me.

My eyes widened. "Annabeth."

A few more heads rose to Annabeth's direction as her shimmering red outfit stood out. Her grey eyes sparkled, and her face was bright. I could easily say that Annabeth looked almost ten times better than all the other girls at the party who had draped their faces in Makeup. Annabeth didn't do makeup… she didn't need to.

"Hey Seaweed Brain." She showed off her smile as she walked towards me.

And I was completely shocked.

"A-An-Annabeth," I stuttered. "You're… you're wearing a dress."

She seemed to look down quickly, as if embarrassed. "Um… yeah, well, you can blame your mom for that, Seaweed Brain. She called and told me I had to wear it. And I never thought I'd catch you alive in a suit either, Percy."

I blinked. "No, that's not what I meant."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, you look… _really_ good. You look… amazing."

There was silence for a minute, and I could immediately feel my face burning up from my stupid comment.

Paul stepped forward breaking the silence, and I silently thanked the gods.

"Hi, I'm Paul." Annabeth shook his hand.

"Percy's told me a lot about you," she said.

"All good things, I hope," Paul joked. "I've actually heard a lot about you too,"

For a second, Annabeth smiled. And I immediately knew what I liked the best about Annabeth tonight: She was happy. It was nice seeing her laughing again, considering last summer things had gotten a little bad with Luke's supposed death, and Annabeth's prophecy.

I waved those thoughts away as another one of my friends slipped into the party. Rachel.

As she spotted me, her grin widened just about a few hundred inches. If I knew Rachel at all through our school year together, I could easily tell you that for some reason, she looked ridiculously over happy tonight.

By the time I managed to snap out of my thoughts, Rachel was standing in front of me, her smile wider than I thought possible.

"Percy!" she shrieked.

"Well, you're happier than usual," I commented stupidly.

"I am," she stated with a grin.

Thinking back, I could remember two months ago when Rachel told me she was entering this huge Art competition - she had been working on a huge sculpture that I had helped her out with a couple of times for more than two months – and, judging by Rachel's smile, I was willing to bet that she might have gotten the results back today.

"You won?" I asked.

"Yes, yes, yes!" she yelped, and without letting me get another word in, she crashed me with a big bear hug.

"That's great, Rachel," I said when she pulled away. I tried to sound more enthusiastic for her, but a strange feeling told me not to.

Very uncomfortably I found myself flashing a look at Annabeth, who was glaring at Rachel. Anger, which I never quite understood, was edged over her stormy eyes.

Rachel seemed to follow my gaze to meet Annabeth's.

"Oh, hi Annabeth! Haven't seen you in a while," Rachel greeted happily, noticing Annabeth for the first time.

Annabeth barely bothered to acknowledge her as she turned to me. "It was nice seeing you again, Percy. I guess I'll... uh... go see Thalia now, while you guys catch up on... your happy moment."

That ended my _oh__so wonderful_reunion with Annabeth after not seeing her for half the year.

I found myself walking away from the party for a while into the kitchen, as I helped my mom set up with the drinks and snacks.

"What's wrong, honey?" my mom asked casually as she handed me a tray of refreshments.

"Nothing... we're all just getting along fine..." I mumbled.

My mom smiled. "You'll work things out."

After that, I pretty much skirted around the guests that were spread out in our living room. The party wasn't so bad, with some decent music busting out of the stereos, and laughter and talk filled the air.

A few people were dancing to the music, and more time passed. There was one hour till midnight, and more importantly, one hour till the start of Christmas day.

I had caught a few glimpses of Annabeth as she talked with her friends, but I couldn't help but shake the feeling that she was avoiding me. It almost felt like all the sore memories from last summer unraveled.

I sighed as Grover appeared next to me. "What's up, man?" he asked, reading my emotions.

"It's nothing. So, um, where's Juniper?" I said in attempt to change the tired mood around.

I watched him scan the crowd, and I watched his expression get dreamy while looking at the hunters.

"Grover," I said while snapping my fingers in his face. "Grover, snap out of it man! How's Juniper, you know, your_girlfriend_?" He still stood there looking dreamily at the huntresses. I got so fed up with it that I socked him in the arm to get him to come back down to earth.

"Ow, Percy! What was that for?" he asked while clutching his arm.

"For not listening to me! Gods, I'll ask again, HOW IS JUNIPER?"

He sighed, again eyeing the huntresses. "She's fine… These are the days I wish I was still single…" He said sadly, not even noticing that Juniper was standing right behind him, her little fists clenched.

"Grover Underwood!" she screeched. "Come here this instant!"

Grover bleated unhappily. He looked to me for help, but I just put my hands in the air, signaling, "You got yourself into this mess!"

He muttered something like, "Pan, why!" I stifled a laugh a Juniper grabbed him by the ear and dragged him away, yelling things like, "You are the most, ugh - I cannot believe I'm dating you!" I couldn't hold it back anymore; I started to laugh uncontrollably, shaking my head in sympathy. For her size, Juniper was very… vicious…

As I finished laughing, from the image of Grover helplessly screeching, I quickly straightened with the sight of Annabeth.

Collecting my thoughts, I decided to approach her, but for some reason, by the time I was standing in front of her, butterflies filled my stomach.

"Annabeth..." I said softly, almost sure she wouldn't hear my voice over the music, but she did, and she looked towards me.

She stiffened, and tucked a streak of golden behind her ear, which was how I knew she meant that she was listening but wasn't talking to me.

"Annabeth, why are you mad at me?" I decided to get to the point.

"I'm not mad," was all she said.

But with my luck, before I could mange continue, Silena had appeared laughing, and within a quick second, dragged Annabeth away, all while blurting out how she wanted to show her something, and I was left standing there.

From next to me, I could see Paul smile, as if he understood what the heck was going on, because I sure didn't.

He winked, which made me all the more uncomfortable, and then joined my mom by the Christmas tree.

Sure, you could say I was having fun. But all I wanted to do was talk to Annabeth. I couldn't take her ignoring me; it bothered me more than I realized.

"Announcement!" my mom's voice broke my thoughts. The music was turned down, and a half of the room turned to listen to my mom, while the other half carelessly went on in their conversations.

She continued, "As some of you may know, we had an Art competition this year in Manhattan, and we can proudly say that the winner is here with us tonight."

From the crowd Rachel came forward, with Paul beside her, who was carrying a big sculpture. He set it down.

The guests acknowledged it well, a few shouted out compliments.

"Thanks," Rachel grinned. "And Percy deserves some of the credit too. I couldn't have done it without his help," she announced.

"Nah, Rachel did all the hard work," I said modestly

From in the corner I could hear Annabeth mumble, "The thing looks like a blob of garbage, it's a disgrace to architecture."

I knew that not many people heard her, but it was enough to be heard by Rachel, who kept her smile but looked down, and I knew she was hurt.

It was also enough for my mom to hear, and she spoke up, changing the moment. "Well Rachel, honey, you did a great job." A few claps were heard.

"And to inform everyone, it is 11:45, and Christmas day will arrive in a good fifteen minutes." That news was enough to get the whole room clapping.

The guests spread out again, and the music cranked up.

I was frustrated and confused, and without thinking I had gently tugged on Annabeth's arm, pulling her to a corner next to the fireplace.

"Annabeth!" My eyes were asking her a thousand questions.

"What, Percy?" she said harshly.

"Why - why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?" Her eyes were fiery and daring me accuse her of something. I backed down a little.

"Look, Annabeth... I don't get this. You shouldn't hate Rachel."

"Why are you defending her, so much?" Annabeth raised her voice, completely frustrated.

I blinked.

"I'm - I'm not defending her, Annabeth."

"Why wouldn't you defend her?" Annabeth huffed. "The way you guys are such close friends..."

"What?" I said, completely puzzled with Annabeth's words.

Annabeth let out an exasperated sigh. "Nothing, Percy! I'm sorry if I'm getting in the way of you two; I guess I'll just leave so you can guys can talk happily and what not!" Annabeth controlled her voice and kept it at a level, but said it loudly enough. Before she could make the slightest movement to walk away, I grabbed her arm.

"At least I'm not constantly defending some evil titan who betrayed you, Annabeth." Something traced my voice… maybe it was sadness, maybe hurt, maybe anger. Or just maybe... it was jealousy.

Annabeth's mouth fell slightly ajar, as if wanting to say something. It almost felt like she had just realized that she had been defending him, and had just considered how I felt for the first time.

"I want to talk to you, Annabeth… not her. I've been trying to talk to you all night, please, will you just listen?"

She seemed to calm for one second, so I continued. "I can't stand you ignoring me, Annabeth. It kills me," I said. "Look, this is what I was trying to tell you last summer; I don't want to be so far away from you like we have been lately. Everything is messed up."

Annabeth gave in a little, lowering her voice, sounding apologetic. "Look, Percy. I'm sorry if it looks like I'm ignoring you. I'm really not. It's just that -"

I cut her off, and looked down. My grip on her arm grew looser, and my hand slipped down her arm, locking into her hand.

"I know. Annabeth you don't have to explain..." I said. "I mean I know what you're going through, and I know you're confused with... Luke."

I flashed her a look, and I could sense her protective shields going up.

"Percy, you don't understand," she said quietly, turning her head, and I moved around a little 'til I met her gaze.

"Annabeth, I promise that I really do understand. And I'm not mad or anything, and you don't have to be sorry," I said. "Just... please don't stop talking to me, Wise Girl. I'm lost when you don't tell me which way is up and down. I mean, you're the only one who makes me happy."

For a second, I could feel an electrifying current pass between grey and green eyes, and my heart sped up.

Annabeth opened her mouth, but it was at that moment when we realized how suddenly quiet it had gotten, and at the same time our heads turned to look around us.

All eyes were on us. The music was off. The room was silent, and many of our friends wore huge grins.

"What?" I demanded, breaking the silence and beating Annabeth to it.

I could see Silena, Thalia, Grover, Juniper and Rachel exchanging suspicious smirks. My mother and Paul were standing in the corner, suppressing there grins down to smiles. And I could see a small smiles painted onto all of my camp friends, and every single guest.

"You guys..." Silena smiled.

Thalia very slowly pointed at something above our heads, and at first I didn't quite understand the image of the soft, lacy, green plant above us.

"You guys are standing under the mistletoe," Rachel said.

I pulled my hand away from Annabeth's as if it was on fire, our faces burning.

Annabeth was now chewing up her bottom lip. I avoided meeting her eyes at all costs.

"Oh come on!" Grover spoke up. "Get into the holiday spirit,"

Thalia smiled. "There is no way, you guys are about to break Christmas traditions."

Juniper agreed, and soon Rachel spoke up too. Pretty soon we had the whole room chattering and encouraging us. Small groups of people had even begun to chant "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

The one thought going through my mind was: There is no way this is happening.

It was then that very hesitantly, and slowly, I looked up at Annabeth, and our eyes locked.

Everyone quieted.

The room was silent enough for the ticking of the clock to be heard. The clock that clearly read 11:59.

I was never sure what happened after that... maybe the feeling of the shocking electric current between our eyes pulling us closer, until all went back with closed eyes, the sensation of her inhaling a soft breath, the feeling of light air dancing between us - until the air between our lips was gone.

Around us, we could hear small whispers. Whispers announcing that it was 12, and Christmas was here. But the air between us was still not back, and the roller coaster in my stomach still wasn't over.

With the enormous wave of thoughts crossing my mind, I couldn't comprehend the moment.

But I could tell you that when the air between us did return, and when we separated, all I could do was stare at her.

Stare at her, and have her eyes eagerly asking me the same question. And it was the question asking 'Where did all that magic had come from?' It was the question asking 'Why that felt so amazing?' I could see her slowly pant along with me, my stomach doing a billion summersaults, and for the first time, I realized that the warm feeling I felt on my cheek was her hand placed on it.

I could very clearly feel many eyes on us. And I could feel the presence and aura of happiness. And I could hear someone in the crowd say it was 12:02.

It was at that moment that a smile won over Annabeth's face, and it was the moment when I cracked a grin.

"Merry Christmas, Annabeth," I whispered.

And Annabeth's eyes got a new sparkle. A sparkle that was more then happiness, and I would easily give anything to never see that sparkle go away. With a breath, she said it loud enough for everyone to hear. "Merry Christmas, Seaweed Brain."

And that was one Christmas with a kiss under the mistletoe, so meaningful it would never be forgotten.

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_**The End. **_

**Hope you enjoyed that and hope you had a great Christmas!**

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